Imagine you paid thousands of dollars for a vacant lot where you wanted to build your dream house. The lot is 500 feet from a rural lake, with only a couple of houses between the lot and the lake, with a partial view of the lake. You obtained all the appropriate permits from the county and state, and then — just days after you laid some gravel — the federal government came in and told you that you couldn't build on the land.

Peter Gleick (left), environmental activist and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, admitted Monday that he had posed as someone else in order to obtain confidential materials from the Heartland Institute, a libertarian think tank in Chicago that challenges the accuracy of the theory of manmade global warming.

The Obama administration announced without congressional approval Thursday that it was forming a new international coalition overseen by the United Nations, supposedly in an effort to fight “climate change” by regulating certain types of emissions. Dubbed the “Climate and Clean Air Coalition,” the emerging alliance includes the governments ruling Mexico, Bangladesh, Canada, Sweden, and Ghana.

Adding to the growing list of failed "green" energy companies, another solar firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Tuesday in hopes of selling off its solar power subsidiaries and other assets. Energy Conversion Devices Inc. (ECD), a Michigan-based manufacturer of thin-film solar laminates (product shown at left), said it will continue to operate through the bankruptcy and sale process.

The United Nations may be able to seize an opportunity — presented by massresistance against the “carbon tax” on air travel imposed by the European Union — to extract global taxes from airline passengers, with claims that failure to adopt a worldwide taxation regime under the UN International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) could result in a “trade war.”

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United Nations boss Ban Ki-moon and his top deputies gathered in secret last year to chart the future course of humanity through “sustainable development,” a controversial concept the UN equates with “saving the planet” in what would ultimately entail a radical and complete transformation of human civilization. But even though the erection of a global so-called “green-economy” regime is a top UN priority, leaked minutes of the meeting revealed that the term itself remains undefined.

U.S. regulators on Thursday authorized plans to construct the nation’s first nuclear power plant in three decades, despite concerns stemming from Japan’s 2011 earthquake that led to a meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant last March. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) voted 4-1 to grant Atlanta-based Southern Company a license to begin operating two new reactors at its existing Vogtle plant in Georgia, which will cost about $14 billion and are expected to enter service as early as 2016 and 2017.

The Chinese government announced on Monday that it would prohibit its airlines from paying a controversial “carbon tax” on flights to and from Europe imposed by the European Union, putting the continental regime in a tough bind as it seeks assistance from Beijing to tackle the region’s spiraling debt crisis. Unspecified retaliatory measures will be taken if the EU persists, according to Chinese officials, who say the taxes violate international treaties.

This June's United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UN CSD) in Rio de Janeiro will largely sidestep discussions of climate-change theories as leaders perceive the subject to be too controversial, according to summit insiders seeking ambitious and wide-ranging agreements on the world’s future. What is being touted as the biggest political gathering of the year will instead focus on framing UN “green” goals in terms of economic prosperity and environmental necessity.

Ener1 Inc., which owns an electric car battery-maker that reaped a $118-million grant from the Obama administration, filed for bankruptcy protection Thursday. The New York-based company claimed defaults on its bond debt were spurred by rising competition from China and other countries. Ener1 listed $73.9 million in assets and $90.5 million in debt as of December 31 in Chapter 11 papers filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

As environmental groups hail President Obama’s rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline, billionaire and prominent Democratic donor Warren Buffett (left) is set to reap a handsome reward from the decision. Buffett’s Burlington Northern Santa Fe LLC is a notable beneficiary — among other U.S. and Canadian railroads — of the move, as it is one of the railroads that will transport the Canadian oil if the pipeline isn’t approved.